the fiscal cliff crisis. and then they adjourn for a week. >> nobody wants to get this done more than me. >> obsession to raise taxes is not going to solve the problem. >> the right seems to be imploding. >> i'm proud of the campaign mitt romney and i ran. >> he looked less like monty hall and more like monty burns because he wants to inflict pain on the republican. >> the implosion is going to happen very, very slowly, day, by day, by day. >> i'm proud of our party. and i'm proud of mitt romney. >> it seems right here. >> we've seen some movement over the last several days amongst some republicans. >> we can probably solve this in about a week. it's not that tough. >> the next 72 hours are critical. >> today's wednesday and the house is going to leave today.

♪ surrender surrender but don't give yourself away away ♪ >> in case you needed reminding, it's 21 days to christmas, but just 27 days to the fiscal cliff. the president is john boehner are facing off for what couldçe a down to the wire nail-biter of a fiscal fight. indeed, the stakes are so high, the pressure so intense, that the house is calling it quits for the week. giving themselves another much deserved break. of course, not before demanding action from the president. >> where are the specifics? where are the discussions? nothing is going on, so we asked the president, sit down with us. >> i'll be here, i'll be available at any moment to sit down with the president to get serious about solving this problem. >> of course the speaker had to clarify that since the house is not back in session till

tuesday. leaving just three days on the legislative calendar to get a deal. don't work too hard, guys. the president began his day meeting with business leaders a suring them he passionately roots for their success. even as he broke the news face to face that their taxes are going up. >>. >> let's allow higher rates to go up for the top 2%, that includes all of you, yes. but not in in way that will affect your spending, lifestyles or the economy in any significant way. >> yes, indeed. the president is standing confident standing firm on middle class tax cuts and against any effort by republicans to throw the debt ceiling into the equation. >> if congress in any way suggests that they're going to tieç negotiations to debt ceilg votes and take us to the brink of default once again, as part

of a budget negotiation, i will not play that game. >> as the president perfects his steely gaze, keep in mistake he's keeping side eye on splintering cracks appearing amongst congressional republicans' supposedly solid front. >> personally u i know we are to raise revenue. i don't care which way we do it. i would rather see the rates go up than do it the other way. >> let's take the american people out of the line of fire. particularly that 98%. >> maybe there's something in the oklahoma water supply. if republican lawmakers are falling pray to the mendacious middle class those at fox news are standing up for the needs of those persecuted top earners. >> this is a different america. how did we get to the point where success is now viewed as evil? i almost want to go out and beat

up a rich person, kirstin. >> i know if i was there, i'd beat you up. >> oh, dear. that's about to get a bit awkward. let's bring in our panel, in miami, julian epstein. here in new york, my colleague joy reid, manager of "the gree yoe" and author of ç"blackward" joy, one is beginning to feel a little sympathy for poor speak are boehner. all he did was chop together erskine/bowles proposal to the super committee and not only opposed by the president but opposed by a large number of republicans. what does he do? >> this general's troops are running from the battlefield. when you read right wing sites you see a mix of despair and a lot of anger. i think the despair comes because they understand the capitulation is warranted. imagine a world in which wall street wrecks the economy and decides its wisdom to dominate the equivalent of a hedge fund

manager and say, he should be the next president. when you do that and lose, have you to expect your next move is capitulation. they're going to lose on the top tax rate. just go ahead and do it. >> do republicans like to be seen as protecting millionaireses amillionaire millionairesmillionaires and billionaires from taxation? do they enjoy what comes from always defending the top 2% of society? >> no, good afternoon, martin. i think republicans, particularly in the house, would be very wise to do a simple thing. they should recognize that they should pass a bill in the house, extending all bush era tax rates, let that go to the senate and see what harry reid will do. i think the republicy have boxe republicans in saying they're sitting in a circular firing squad. put the bill on the floor, take it to the senate, have that discussion and see what the president will have to say. >> çjulian, what's your reacti to that? that makes sense, doesn't it? >> i don't think it's a deal that will get anywhere.

the larger deal is republican dealers thought they were making a faustian deal with the tea party and what they did was grab a tiger by the tail. it kind of exposes the phoneyness of the conservative movement because even if you consider where boehner and so-called moderates in republican party are, what they're offering, they're offering tax revenue increases most economists would agree are more harmful than what obama is proposing by raising the upper two brackets. and then this party that paraded around as the big deficit hawks, the guys that wanted to control spending, the only cuts they put on the table is playing at margins, increasing retirement age from 65 to 67 and adjusting rates for social security. this hasn't presented itself as a party that wants to cut spending. on one hand you have president obama's proposal, which most

agree is the responsible way of raising the debt, raising rates. and responsible cuts on entitlements and discretionary spending versus republicans who are divided against something that is a chicken hawk when it comes to the deficits, that is the boehner approach, or the more extremist position which is absolutely nothing.ç so this is an extraordinary position for the republican party to have evolved into. >> you must respond to what julian just said. >> i like julian an awful lot but i think what he said is entirely wrong. it's fascinating president obama last july, july of 2011, said we can get $1.2 trillion in revenue where we don't have to raise marginal tax rates and close loopholes and julian says most economists agree, in fact, this won't add to the deficit. look, you're only talking about $89 billion a year of the tax

dollars of top two drapes. julian and i will agree, however, this deal is not serious. you need to have a lot more on the table for entitlements and -- >> let me correct him on a couple of factual matters. we have already seen more than that trillion, probably closer to $1.6 trillion, $1.8 trillion. those are already on the books. point two, economists are in agreement that if you raise the rates on the upper income, the top 2%, you'll have virtually no impact on the economy, virtually no impact on the employment figures, crs has found that. the cbo has found that. there isn't much argument in economic circles that the obama approach here in terms of going after the deficit, is far more responsible than what republicans are talking about which is only revenue fromç closing loopholes. most economists think you will have at least some pain in the housing markets and for hundreds

of thousands of charities in this country. again as i say, which ron didn't respond to, this party that has paraded around, the party that wants to rein in government spending, they are unable to identify any changes in medicare or entitlement spending which shows the tea party at its core was a phoney, phoney movement. >> joy, it's interesting to hear ron referring to august 2011 because a number of refers appear to have forgotten something happened in november 2012 called a presidential election. >> right. it was an election in which president obama, unprecedented for a democrat, actually ran on a platform of raising taxes. he said, i'm going to raise taxes on the top 2% and he was re-elected resoundingly with it. to what ron said, if it's only $14 trillion, what's the big deal, go ahead and let the rich pay it? that's number one. number two, the other thing that's been exposed and what's

true, what's always been true about conservativism is that the core principle is the rich don't pay too much, they pay too little. when they say things like broaden the tax base, they think it's a moral hazard to have a progressive tax code. you want a flatter tax code for those with less money pay more into the system. republicans have tried to talk around that because that's anç unpopular thing to tell your tea party base, middle class people, no, we think lower income people and middle income people should pay more. but when we strip away all the rhetoric about job creators and the rest, that is the core of conservativism. rich people should not pay more. they should pay less. poorer people should pay more. that's what they believe. >> i enjoy listening to progressives and liberals talk about the core of conservativism because you have it wrong. >> what does slashing the tax code -- >> this whole notion, like president obama has this fetish, we have to raise the rates on

the top 2% to raise the deficit -- >> ron, ron, just one -- just one second. >> i'm almost -- >> no, you're -- ron, your narrow -- i'm sorry, ron, but you're now doing what eric can'ter, you're saying the sense the president has been speaking and converting it into a psychiatric condition. you're describing it as a fetish. in fact, it's neither of those, as you know. the president -- >> let me finish my thought here. just so we can clarify that. we're not going to diminish the president's comments as a psychiatric illness. he's argued this based on economis economists. it's not nonsense, an illness. >> first of all, going back to my core argument, the idea if you're grg toç take $89 billioa year and reduce the deficit,

it's laughable in its face. the president is calling for more spending with his new stimulus. number two. point number two, the democrats have shown nothing by way of spending cuts. julian talks about there's $1.6 trillion. only in washington, d.c. can you say we're winding down the war but we're going to count that as savings. baseline spending doesn't make any sense. the president of the united states -- >> if we -- >> julian, hang on one second. the president of the united states should call the congressional leadership up to camp david, go up there and they should get in a room and they should sit there until they hammer out a deal. >> i agree with that. >> julian, go ahead. >> there are three big points the viewers need to understand and they need to take note that ron did not respond to. first, on the economists. the economists are almost entirely in obama's camp in this question. cbo did a study and republicans didn't like that study so they asked crs to do a study.

they found no impact. economists are with obama on this issue. obama campaigned on tax fairness, won on tax fairness. the public is with him. the third point ron didn't respond to, it is a matter of fact republicans have paraded for the last -- since anybody can remember as the party that wants to rein in government spend çpentagon. austerity regiment is a republican idea. when it comes time to put the your money where the mouth is, republicans are unable to identify significant cuts other than play on the margins? it makes my central point which is the tea party movement, which are the inmates in control of the asylum and republican party right now is an intellectually bankrupt movement. there is time to show the cuts and they can't do it. >> can i very quickly -- >> that was a psychiatric reference there, martin. you didn't cut him off on that. in fairness -- >> i just want to quickly say,

in 2002 dick cheney said deficits don't matter. when republicans crammed through the bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 through reconciliation, they wrote them to expire. they are the ones who made them expire and they did it because it was an accounting gimmick to hide the cost of the bush tax cuts just as they hid the cost of the bush wars, which were also done off the books. they don't care about deficits. they care about flattening the tax code so lower income people pay more. >> that's the dirty little secret. thank you. i wish we had more time. we don't. next, sheldon walking the corridors of congress? what? i wonder if $150 million buys you a key to the speaker's office. i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th, five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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have time for the president right now. and maybe that's because the president did not put $150 million into gop coffers during the last campaign. yes, the man who single handedly gave them the most money to prevent the election, sheldon adelson, was seen exiting the capitol hill with a staffer from the speaker's office. what did they talk about? i'll give you 150 million guesses but it probably had something to do with this. >> our members believe strongly raising tax rates will hurt the economy. closing loopholes, especially on those who are wealthy, is a better way to raise this revenue. >> joining us now is ken vogel, politico's chief investigative reporter and mike dyson, professor at georgetown university and msnbc political analyst.

professor dyson, if you invested $150 million of your own money, only to see it wash down the drain, would you then be preparing to spend double that amount on republicans in 2016 which i understand is what mr. adelson is reportedly planning to do? >> i'll tell you, this approach to trying to win your way into the political main stream is quite interesting. i guess if you have that kind of money, can you double down, so to spqb)k hedge your bets and go for what you don't know. the reality is if mr. adelson has that kind of cash, why not better create outlets to articulate his ideology beyond the political -- beyond the house and the senate and the republican nomination for presidency? in other words, why bet on mitt romney and eight governors who didn't win for you. he says he's in a business that

pays dividends at some time but he doesn't want to change the political ideology of this nation. he wants to directly influence the decision makers over policy that will benefit his cronies. so it's not about the democratic process and about making this nation better. it's about getting your way and winning it and bullying it through your buck. if you got them, spend them. >> of course. he does have, i believe, $21 billion, according to forbes. >> that's a lot of dough. >> can you calibrate how important mr. adelson is to republicans now that we're watching the implosion of gop stalwarts like karl rove and freedom works, both of which you have reported on. >> extremely important to the republican party, as are ee emerging class of mega donors. who were spurred into giving large amounts of money, which led to the super pacs. you look no further than the

week after the presidentiamç election, the governor's association was in town, in las vegas, and as we reported, three governors who are contemplating their own runs in 2016 made a trip from the wynn casino and hotel, a strong rival of sheldon adelson's sands corporation, over to the venetian, adelson's flagship, to meet with sheldon adelson. we don't know what they talked about, but bobby engine dal, john casic, and really high up on the short list of procespecte 2016ers. after the meeting we heard sheldon adelson expressed to confidantes he was favoring for 2016, a candidate with executive experience. all those guys fit the bill. incidentally, they were also visiting with him. >> great. professor, in this wall street journal article, adelson dismisses the president's winning margin as i'm quoting him a rounding error.

he says sitting at the end of a giant conference table in the venetian casino adelson grabbed his calculator and began way. what's that come up to, he said? look. 0.002%, absolutely nothing. are we beginning to see how mr. adelson may have lost those $150 million on a single bet there? >> no question. he's engaging it with what bush called fuzzy çmath. the suspicious of his calculations there, my daddy used to say this, if you missed it by a dime, might as well be a dollar. the reality is if it's 0.002s or 200%, you lost, you're not in the white house. what you sought is not realized. your ambition was stunted. your goal was this warted and your ability to manipulate change your particular way has to go back to the drawing boards. that's what he's doing.

he's going back now. trying to disparage the president's win and elevate his particular men into the stalking horse for 2016 nomination for presidency on the republican side. he's dogging the dude who won and trying to put forward the carrot for his own particular horse to win. right now he's looking at the backside of that horse and the tail is switching mightily in his face from the obama administration. >> i guess he's proof that you can be a billionaire and not particularly clef. ken vogel and professor dyson, i'm sorry, ken's feed to us has broken down but we're grateful to his contribution as always. next, has fox news put a sock in two of the right's biggest mouths? stay with us. >> where is your -- this proposal is an inassault.

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♪ [ female announcer ] swiffer. now with the scrubbing power of mr. clean magic eraser. for many conservatives the period since their presidential defeat has been a little rough, to say the least. there's been talk of postmortems, autopsies, colonoscopies, and now even friendly fire within the party itself as it tries to negotiate an approach toward the fiscal cliff. fox news, with all its stunned punditry on election night is not amused. the network confirms karl rove will only be allowed on air after producers receive permission. ditto, dick morris, the republican cheerleader still waiting to the romney/ryan call. gentlemen, don't sit there waiting in vein. there's a seat right here across the street with your name on it.

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[ humming ] from an original bomb thrower and habits dying hard, to spicolli on the scene -- >> enough of the talk and speeches. for the first time,there are numbers on pieces of paper -- >> both sides will be throwing bombs at each other. >> numbers on paper! >> the holdup right now is speaker boehner -- >> he can we can't sit here and negotiate by ourselves. >> i don't want to you fall off this cliff. >> i have no particular observation. >> why don't you voluntarily jump off this super cliff. your fall will be cushioned by lava. >> i will not play that game. we have to break that habit before it starts.ç >> we don't just sit around and think. we actually produce results. >> magic beans and fairy dust. >> she used to be my gal pal and

then came along sean penn. >> how often when you were watching television with sean penn do you have fox news on? >> double cheese and sausage. >> right here, dude. >> mood relaxer ended up on the cafeteria menu. >> he thinks somebody made him king. >> i am your king. >> barack obama is a socialist. >> there you go. >> it is thrilling when your team trusts you with the ball. it's humbling when you advance the ball as far as you can only to come up a little short. the redskins didn't find that out on sunday. the giants did. >> gop can't just throw in a free pedestrian care every mandatory ultrasound. >> we don't do a good job laying out that option. >> at least one of them has to be gay. where is waldo. >> republicans must steer far clear of that track. >> we got one. in a chair of the house administration committee. ensuring the house runs efficiently. the housewife. >> know any good diners in new hampshire or iowa? >> i will not stand by and watch

the people of south carolina ignored. >> it's going to be a great year. >> let's get right to our panel now. a pair of esteemed washington writers, jonathan capehart and dana milbank, political columnist. welcome to both of you. if i can start with you,ç jonathan, paul ryan and marco rubio spoke to a group of conservatives last night. they talked about helping the poor get into the middle class. in fact, i think we have a shot of paul ryan helping the poor. yes, there he is, in a soup kitchen during a campaign photo op. as we know, it was all just talk. when are we going to start hearing substance from these men or any republicans, for that matter? >> paul ryan would say he's been talking substance for a long time on these issues. it's just that we don't like what he's saying. we don't like his prescriptions for how he would help the poor. personally, i think paul ryan --

>> how does it help the poor by stripping meals on wheels, remove pell grants, how does that help the poor? >> that's a question for congressman ryan. i'm telling you from his mindset, his perspective, one way to help people and the economy is to ensure the country is on sound financial fiscal footing. the way he wants to go about it would devastate the very people he says he wants to help reach the middle class and achieve the american dream. >> dana, let's listen to some more of what paul ryan said last night. here he is. >> both parties tend to divide americans into our voters and their voters. let's be really clear. republicans must steer far clear of that trap.ç we must speak to aspirations and anxieties of every american. >> dana, paul ryan now says we shouldn't be dividing people but wasn't it he who said, before

too long, we could become a society where the net majority of americans are takers, not makers? is that not dividing america? >> well, it's all well and good to say let's steer clear of that dr trap once he's fallen to the bottom of the hole. i was up on the hill and saw paul ryan and the others there. i think for all the rhetoric, i think they are becoming to come to terms with reality here. i mean, paul ryan did sign off on this $800 billion tax increase. no, it's not enough. no, it's not done in the format it will need to be in the end. but they have finally chucked or at least reer toicly this long-time insistence. i think they're saying, okay, we lost the election, we are to get down to reality. they are off the cliff but it's an important concessions. >> that's not bad, after four weeks, a general realization of reality. >> today we heard john sununu

echo his candidate's 47% remarks. also there's this editorial from the great ted nugent on how to resolve the fiscal cliff. the nug says, let's stop the insanity by suspending the right to vote of any american who's on welfare. how effectiveç is voter suppression good at cushing insanity? >> this is the first time we've heard from john sununu. probably not the first time we've heard from ted nugent. these are two outliers within the beaten republican party. remember, the polls were barely closed before republicans were coming out of the woodwork, talking about how they needed to broaden the tent, be more open and welcoming and approachable to the very people who turned their backs on the republican party and helped re-elect

president obama. john sununu is addition you know, he's not speaking for the republican party. ted nugent, he's very entertaining and downright racist in some of the things he says. >> if you like that kind of thing. >> i guarantee you, they're not going to be standing at the speaker's podium in 2016. the party moving beyond those characters. >> i hope you're right. mitt romney, whom you've just written about is seclusion in retail therapy. the man who told us i love cars, american automobiles who bought himself a foreign car audi, built in slovakia, owned byç a germany company. the capital of slovakia is quite aways away from detroit. is this is finally the real

romney, the one he promised to give us and now we're seeing? >> but he took his audi to costco and loaded up with cheap merchandise. >> sorry sdmroop. >> so he is a man of the people driving his luxury suv to the discount chain. >> come o dana, he spends the whole campaign saying, i love america, implying the president doesn't. and the first thing he does is buy himself a german automobile. >> well, first he moved out to this wealthy enclave, the home in california. he now has the luctiony automobile and joined the corporate board at marriott international. and then he took that break to complain he lost the election because obama was giving gifts to minorities. this has not been the greatest recovery from an election defeat. surely he needs time to lick his wounds. there might be a better way to do it. he did get to see twilight, so i guess he's enjoying himself.

>> i want to spare talking about dana's column with dana, but if it were at the apex of his public attention spectrum and he could do a number of things, a number of effective contributions but the first thing he does is rejoin a board. how long will it be before he claims back those tax deductions he çself-willingly rescinded t his tax rate would go up to 14% instead of the 9% it would have been at? how long do you think? >> could be this tax year, no knows. it's clear governor romney has written off politics. otherwise why would he make the gifts comment unless maybe he's in deep denial of what happened. but it's clear, his time as leader of the republican party is done, is over. again, the polls were barely closed on election night before the party was already moving beyond him.

a columnist at new york magazine who wrote that there are no romneyites, no one within the republican party to carry the romney banner into 2014 and 2016. the party's moved beyond him. they're all focused on christie, jindal, ryan, rubio, any other person in the republican party in a governorship or high up in the senate who could possibly run for president in 2016. they're focused on him, not romney. >> maybe bobby jindal will welcome ted nugent. gentlemen, thank you so much. next, 98% of americans, as some like to say, are hostages. stay with us. >> shelly taylor, lead researcher says peopleç as the age lose that gut feeling that, hey, something's wrong here. >> who would have thought that

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oh dear... geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. in speaking to a business round table in washington this morning, the president praised on entrepreneurs for their innovation and their record corporate profits. but he also took the opportunity to explain why raises taxes on the wealthiest of americans is unlikely to prove particularly damaging. >> let's allow higher rates to go up for the top 2%, that includes all of you, yes, but not in any way that's going to affect your spending, your lifestyles or the economy in any significant way. >> congressman steve from new york and chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee. good afternoon, sir. >> hi, martin. >> congressman, notwithstanding the fact that speaker boehner's

office is considered mathematically dyslexic by many economists, has it surprised you some republicans have actually condemned boehner's office and would much prefer to keep taxes as they are and take an axe to social programs, medicare, in order to reduce the deficit? >> what's to surprising about that? for so many republicans, they said in the 1990s they wanted medicare to wither on the vine. you know, they now think they have the opportunity to do it in 2012. speaker boehner's proposal is based on the mathematical equation, two plus two equals whatever you want it to be. that's not how you grow the middle class. you do it in a balanced way. let's reduce the deficit we've already supported, $2 trillion in spending cuts, but let's do it in a way by asking the richest 2% to do their fair and grow the economy by making smart investments and things like job creating infrastructure.

that's what the middle class wants and sdooefshdeserves. we ought to do it now. we don't have to fall off this cliff. >> the president spoke about today why he wants to take the debt ceiling issue out of discussions about the fiscal cliff. take a listen. >> if congress in any way suggests they're going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again as part of a budget negotiation, i will not play that game. >> congressman, the last time republicans used the debt ceiling for political purposes, the full faith and credit of this nation was downgraded. are they really happy, really happy, in the face of what you've just heard the president say, are they happy to do if again? >> yeah, they have acted irresponsibly. many house republicans have acted like children. they have behaved like children. when children behave containing yously, you take the dangerous toy as way from them.

they want to continue on a three-month basis. they have tried to schett down the federal government on a three-month timetable because they don't fundamentally believe the government should help grow the middle class or help small businesses retire people, retain employees, or helping veterans. so we don't think it's a good idea for them to continue this three-month attempt to shut down the government. we ought to balance the budget, reduce spending where we can, we ought to increase revenues, make those investments and smart things like infrastructure and we ought to take the partisan politics, the obstructionism and tea party agenda away from them. they do this because they signed a pledge to grover norquist. that's why they're willing to shut down the government. they're not taking an oath to the constitution of the united states but an oath to grover norquist. if you do things like that you shouldn't have the right to try to continue to shut down the government and use the debt ceiling as a weapon. >> finally, congressman, there are reports the president may ask congress for $50 billion for

hurricane sandy, you know, to cover costs of relief and rebuilding. do you expect that to even be held hostage as well by region sn -- republicans? >> yes, do i. >> so no agreement on fiscal cliff, no agreement on debt ceiling, no agreement on this either? >> that's because they are obstructionists. they've turned the win into a partisan political instrument. they've turned the weather into a partisan political instrument. we have a solution to thisç 37e have introduced a discharge petition. we think that we shouldn't be holding the middle class hostage. everyone agrees the first $250,000 in income should receive a tax increase. i believe it should be higher in some areas like long island. but i'm not telling to tell somebody making $130,000 won't get a tax cut until somebody at

$300,000 gets theirs. let's just vote today, tomorrow o a bill to give people a tax cut up to the $250,000, we offered a discharge petition. we need 40 republicans to sign that petition, get this out to a vote, put brakes on going over the cliff. >> congressman, thank you. next, hillary can, but will she? stay with us. music is a universal language. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from. and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

earlier today secretary of state hillary clinton said farewell to nato allies during a visit to brussels. as she contemplates the future, she may well be encouraged by a new washington post poll. asked if they would vote for her if she ran for president in 2016, 57% said yes while 37% said no.

joining us is our white house correspondent kristen welker. we found out the editor of "the new yorker" said hillary clinton would run in 2016 and dustin hoffman would support her if she ran but what chatter are you hearing around the white house about that? >> reporter: democratic sources tell me the secretary of state just hasn't decided yet. she's still in the process of mulling over this decision. having said that, they also tell me that the political operation is doing what they need to do to preserve the right to run if that's what she decides to do in 2016. that's playing out behind the scenes. publicly we've seen this unfold for quite some time. her president, former president bill clinton, was president obama's key surrogate during this election cycle, setting the stage for president obama to return the favor in 2016. if she so decides to run. remember earlier this week, she was at the save and center for middle east policy and they ran

that glossy video that felt like a campaign video in which she was praised by a number of officials, including president benjamin netanyahu. the stage sbing set f that's what she decides. if you go deeper into that poll, 66% of women say she should run, so higher than the national average. that would be one of her core constituencies. those close to me tell me when she steps down she'll focus on resting. >> to be frank, though, i think she's deserved a well-deserved rest. >> reporter: absolutely. i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th, five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ woman ] learn from my story. look this isn't my first christmas.

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act. they'll be sold with a surcharge to help respect research and education to honor the great man of letters. but there was another political event yesterday on the floor of the senate. that was the absolute reverse of this noble act of veneration. in the presence of a wheelchair-bound war hero, 89-year-old former senator bob dole, members gathered, hoping to ratify a united nations treaty that's based entirely on the americans with disabilities act. it would ensure that people with disabilities are granted the same general rights as anyone else. and it's a treaty that anyone with a modicom of sense and civic fairness would find impossible to oppose, as senator john kerry explained. >> bob dole, why is he here?

he's not here because he's here to advocate for the united nations. he is here because he wants to know that other countries will come to treat the disabled the way we do. >> yet incredibly, republican[ç refused to support the treaty. the measure, which required a two-thirds majority failed by a vote of 61-38. it was a shameful episode as senate majority leader made clear after the vote was taken. it's a sad day, said harry reid, when we cannot pass a treaty that simply brings the world up to the american standard for protecting people with disabilities because the republican party is enthralled to extremists and idealogs. that brings us back to mark twain who said